Rules for playing Omaha High Low Poker

A lot of people are familiar with Texas Hold’em, and 7 Card Stud but many have not heard of Omaha Hi-Low Poker. Omaha hi-Low has some similarities to Texas Hold‘em but there are some significant differences. Like Hold’em there is a 3 card flop which is followed by a 4th card and 5th card but that is where similarities end. Omaha Hi Low Poker is a fun game to play once you have learned to play, but it is one of the hardest poker games to become comfortable with. Even though the rules are straight forward the strategies involved in the game can be challenging.

A game of Omaha begins like many other Poker games with each player paying an Ante to the pot. After the Ante each player is dealt 4 cards face down. This is another difference between Omaha and Hold’em where each player only receives 2 cards. After the first 4 cards are dealt the first round of betting begins. Like all poker games each player can call, raise, fold or re-raise when it comes to their turn.

After this initial round of betting, the flop is dealt which consists of 3 community cards dealt in the middle of the table face up. Round 2 of betting now begins in the same manner as the first round did. After this betting round is complete, a fourth card is dealt face up as a community card and round three of betting begins.
After the 3rd round of betting has finished the 5th and final card is dealt face up.

After the 5th community card is dealt the final round of betting begins and the players place their final wagers. Once this round of betting has completed each remaining player will reveal their hand to determine the winner. Unlike other forms of poker where the highest hand wins the money in the pot, Omaha poker there could be 2 winners of the money. The first winner is for the highest hand and the second winner for the lowest hand, hence the name Omaha Hi-Low.

During the showdown each play must first reveal their high hand. To form their high hand a player can only use 2 cards from their hole cards and the remaining 3 cards must come from the community cards. Like all other Poker variations the high hand winner is determined using standard Poker hand rankings.

After the high hand showdown, the low hand winner is determined. To qualify for a low hand you cannot have a card higher than 8. As stated above a low hand must contain 5 cards, all cards must be 8 or lower. These five cards must be un-paired. As straights and flushes do not count for the low hand the best possible low hand is Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5. the winner is determined by the lowest high card. So if there are two players remaining and the first player has a hand of Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 and the second player happens to have 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 then the first player would win because their highest value card (5) is lower than the second players highest value card (6). If the remaining players have the same high card than the next lowest high card is used. Should these cards be the same then you would move to the third card and continue until there is a winner.

If there are two winners for a hand then the pot is split 50/50 between the high hand winner and the low hand winner. If there is not a low hand qualifier than the high hand winner wins the total pot.

As you can well imagine the hardest part of Omaha Poker is the low hand. This is a foreign concept to most players. Rest assured a little practice and you will be playing Omaha like a pro.